NATIONAL TRAINING GUIDES: Abstracts

Foundation Training Guides focus on the key values and behaviors needed by your staff in order to support the Head Start approach and the Head Start Program Performance Standards.

Technical Training Guides address complex skills and specific knowledge needed to advance the growth of children, parents, and staff.

DISABILITIES SERVICES

Setting the Stage: Including Children with Disabilities in Head Start, a Foundation guide, helps to orient Head Start staff to the concept of inclusion and its implications for providing Head Start services to children with disabilities and their families; reinforces the program-wide effort necessary to include children with disabilities in the program; and strengthens staff skills in order to foster and sustain meaningful inclusion. It is useful to all Head Start programs - those that have just begun to reach out and serve children with more significant disabilities, as well as programs that have considerable experience. (HSIPC Catalog No. 803)

Including Children with Significant Disabilities enhances the skills of Head Start staff to recruit and meet the needs of children with more significant disabilities and their families. The guide offers strategies for effectively working with early intervention and other specialized agencies to better reach and serve children and families. (HSIPC Catalog No. 826)

Leading the Way: Disabilities Services and the Management Team provides Head Start managers with the skills and knowledge needed to plan and implement integrated services for children with disabilities and their families. The guide helps managers develop a broader view of their roles and set the stage for developing a more collaborative and coordinated way of working with each other, LEAs, and with other community agencies. (HSIPC Catalog No. 818)

Supporting Children with Challenging Behaviors: Relationships Are Key is designed to provide teaching teams with a process for reflecting on their own practice, assessing difficult situations, and designing interventions through joint problem solving that support both children and adults. (HSIPC Catalog No. 816)

Translating the IEP into Everyday Practice builds the skills of all staff in individualizing for children with disabilities. The guide helps staff to analyze and adapt the routine, activities, and rules of the classroom to accommodate children with disabilities so they can display their varying abilities alongside their peers. Exploring effective ways to collaborate with families, other specialists, and community agencies is also highlighted. (HSIPC Catalog No. 828)

EDUCATION

Nurturing Children, a Foundation guide, is designed to assist all staff in learning how to interact with children in ways that keep them safe while encouraging them to develop critical thinking skills. Also included are guidelines for helping staff learn to conduct nurturing and supportive interactions with families. (HSIPC Catalog No. 807)

Emerging Literacy: Linking Social Competence and Learning is designed to enhance the skills of education staff to support young children's emerging language and literacy by fostering their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, and by collaborating with parents and other staff to create language and literacy-rich environments in the home and the center. (HSIPC Catalog No. 821)

Enhancing Children's Growth and Development expands on the concepts developed in Nurturing Children. It is designed to enhance the skills of education staff so they can apply knowledge of how children grow and develop to planning, implementing and evaluating activities and experiences in the center, at home, and during group socialization sessions. (HSIPC Catalog No. 808)

Individualizing: A Plan for Success examines the ongoing process of individualizing: comprehensive screening, in-depth assessment, planning and ongoing assessment. This guide encourages staff to use a variety of strategies to get to know and plan for children, build partnerships with families and assess the children's progress. (HSIPC Catalog No. 822)

Observation and Recording: Tools for Decision Making enhances the skills of all education staff so they can accurately and objectively record young children's behavior and make thoughtful decisions about program planning for each child. (HSIPC Catalog No. 805)

HEALTH

Laying a Foundation in Health and Wellness helps participants explore their basic understanding of health concepts, encouraging a perspective that is holistic, multicultural and oriented toward individual and community wellness. The guide links health to Head Start's mission of developing social competence and describes ways that the Head Start program can teach about and support healthy behaviors among children, families and staff members. (HSIPC Catalog No. 804)

Caring for Children with Chronic Conditions is a guide intended to build staff capacity to make Head Start a safe and welcoming place to learn and play for children with chronic conditions. Best practices for including children with special health needs and specific Head Start implications are outlined with a particular focus on allergies and asthma. (HSIPC Catalog No. 831)

Enhancing Health in the Head Start Workplace increases the understanding and skills of Head Start staff to identify the various ways in which employee health affects the effectiveness of the organization; design training programs which encourage employees to improve their own health; understand how the organization contributes to the overall health of employees; and implement policies which allow employees to enjoy the best health possible. (HSIPC Catalog No. 813)

Preventing and Managing Communicable Diseases improves the skills of Head Start staff and families in dealing with communicable diseases. Specifically the guide addresses attitudes toward communicable diseases; how to reduce the spread of disease; and how to recognize and manage illnesses more effectively. (HSIPC Catalog No. 806)

Promoting Mental Health encourages mental health promotion for all members of the Head Start community. This is accomplished through activities that build skills in creating responsive, respectful relationships with coworkers, parents and children which are an integral part in building programs that promote the ability of children and families to respond well to challenge and adversity. (HSIPC Catalog No. 812)

Safety First: Preventing and Managing Childhood Injuries increases the skills of Head Start staff in dealing with injuries in their program. This guide helps staff to: understand the common causes of injuries and their relationship to child development; create a safe environment in the classroom and at home; teach safety practices to other staff, children and families; prepare policies, procedures and provisions for emergencies; properly assess, care for and document injuries in their program; and support children, parents and staff in their recovery from emergencies and injuries. (HSIPC Catalog No. 827)

Sustaining a Healthy Environment offers information and activities that broaden staff members' understanding of the natural environment and improve their ability to incorporate environmental enrichment and environmental protection into their programs. Participants will consider the immediate issues of identifying risks and preventing harm in the home setting and the Head Start center, while developing an ecological, long?term perspective in their choices. (HSIPC Catalog No. 819)

Well-Child Health Care: Making It Happen can help Head Start staff understand and explain screenings and exams required in Head Start; develop a partnership with parents and health care providers in well-child health care and screening; evaluate the quality of their program's screening and exam practices and develop strategies for improvement; and complete and document follow-up assessment and interventions in the classroom and home. (HSIPC Catalog No. 832)

MANAGEMENT

Participating in the Management Process, a Foundation guide, introduces Head Start staff and parents to the concepts that management is a team process; everyone plays a part in achieving a quality program; and change is an element that Head Start programs must continuously address. (HSIPC Catalog No. 817)

Cultivating Successful Management Teams focuses on working cooperatively by assessing individual and team behavior; demonstrating collaborative decision making techniques; and developing essential skills to build a supportive team relationship. (HSIPC Catalog No. 835)

Fostering Program Governance helps orient Head Start Directors, managers, parents and volunteers to the duties and responsibilities of Policy Councils and boards. Participants will practice program and organizational planning; review assessment tools; discuss shared decision making; practice organizational planning; and discuss issues related to working with volunteers. (HSIPC Catalog No. 836)

Leading Head Start into the Future is designed to build self-awareness using tools to assess organizational needs and identifying and modeling the characteristics of effective leaders. (HSIPC Catalog No. 820)

Planning and Reviewing for Success prepares participants for developing strategic and operational plans and emphasizes the importance of program evaluation. Topics include developing long- and short- range goals; building project management skills and evaluating how effectively program objectives have been met. (HSIPC Catalog No. 837)

PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Engaging Parents, a Foundation guide, focuses on creating a common vision for parent involvement; adapting parent involvement activities to make them more accessible and inviting to parents; using observation and listening skills to identify how each staff person contributes to and supports parent involvement; and analyzing current parent involvement practices in order to identify program strengths and potential areas for improvement. (HSIPC Catalog No. 801)

Building On Success is designed for Head Start staff working in partnership with parents on self sufficiency goals. It focuses on the skills needed to: develop a personal plan for education and employment; create career ladder opportunities for parents within the Head Start program; and mobilize community resources to support families. (HSIPC Catalog No. 824)

Communicating with Parents focuses on the value of effective communications in building partnerships with parents. The guide covers effective speaking and listening skills; clear and concise writing for a variety of readers; and planning communication strategies at a program level. (HSIPC Catalog No. 809)

Designing Parenting Education focuses on developing comprehensive family learning opportunities. It includes strategies for bringing parents into the planning process, effective consumerism of materials and community and program resources. (HSIPC Catalog No. 838)

Family Partnerships: A Continuous Process focuses on those skills of the family goal setting process that support family growth: learning from significant life events, identifying internal and external supports, visioning, creating a family picture, setting goals, developing and implementing a family plan and providing follow-up.(HSIPC Catalog No. 823)

Partners in Decision Making provides training for staff and parents on how to work together as a team, respecting each other's unique contribution to the group process and to the Head Start program. Specifically this guide focuses on creating a climate for decision making partnerships; building trusting relationships among team members; and decision making strategies. (HSIPC Catalog No. 810)

Supporting Family Learning is designed for staff who are responsible for creating educational activities that support parents as their child's first teacher, this guide explores strategies for observing home learning environments, developing interactive parent/child learning activities, and developing family literacy programs. (HSIPC Catalog No. 833)

SOCIAL SERVICES

Building Supportive Communities, a Foundation guide, concentrates on the significance of building strong relationships that provide the required support for families, both within Head Start and in the broader community; and expands staff understanding and skill in relationship building. (HSIPC Catalog No. 802)

A Design for Family Support reinforces Head Start's role as a family support program and defines the framework for supporting families. The concepts and principles of supporting families are presented along with the skills necessary to develop those relationships which enhance family support. (HSIPC Catalog No. 811)

Community Partnerships: Working Together expands the capacity of staff to facilitate the development of collaborative partnerships. The activities provide strategies for programs, staff and families to join and work together within the community, participate on behalf of families, and build supportive peer relationships. (HSIPC Catalog No. 830)

Supporting Families in Crisis provides staff with a framework for understanding, identifying, and responding to family crises. The guide also provides staff with the opportunity to explore safety issues posed by crisis situations; to learn strategies for reducing personal risk; and to learn strategies aimed at preventing crises in vulnerable families. (HSIPC Catalog No. 829)

TRANSITION

Effective Transition Practices: Facilitating Continuity, a Foundation guide, familiarizes all staff with the elements and requirements of effective transition; increases staff and parent skills that support children and families preparing for transition and helps staff and families identify specific practices to support transition. (HSIPC Catalog No. 814)

Infant and Toddler Transitions is designed to aid Early Head Start and Head Start families, managers, and staff in developing skills and practices that support the healthy development and transitions of infants and toddlers and their families. Staff and families learn to examine infant and toddler transitions from a developmental perspective; individualize routines and practices to support each child's needs; plan for transitions that ensure consistency and continuity; and implement measures for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of transitions. (HSIPC Catalog No. 839)

Planning for Transitions provides the tools and skill development necessary to plan and implement successful transition activities from different early childhood settings such as from home to Head Start and from Head Start to elementary school. (HSIPC Catalog No. 815)

Transitions: Parents are Key enables parents to fully understand their roles, rights and responsibilities and to develop communication and advocacy skills necessary throughout their child's education. (HSIPC Catalog No. 825)

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National Head Start Training Guides are available free of charge to Head Start programs, with distribution criteria of one manual per site. Please fax, mail or e-mail your request to:

Head Start Information and Publication Center
P.O. Box 26417
Alexandria, VA 22313-0417
Fax: 703-683-5769
E-mail: puborder@headstartinfo.org
Web: http://www.headstartinfo.org
If you have questions about your order, call 703-683-2878.

National Training Guides are only available to non-Head Start organizations and individuals through the Government Printing Office (GPO). Send orders to:

Superintendent of Documents
U.S. Government Printing Office
P.O. Box 371-954
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954
(All orders must be pre-paid.)
If you have questions about your GPO order, call 202-512-1800.

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